My (personal) opinion on why Notion Ink will not beat apple

[iamapirate]

ok, before I start to get some flames for this, or even worse start some flames, I' like to say this is NOT a promotion for my blog. I merely blogged about it and would like your opinions about this. I can't wait to get my hands on one - haven't been able to pre-order because of lack of funds which is a bit annoying.

anyway, here it is:

Indian start-up company notion ink have just started pre-orders for their tablet, the Adam. Available at first to only a select group of ‘family’ (those that have been following notion ink by commenting on their blogs), it looks set to take the tablet market by storm.

Or will it?

The problem with this is not that I think it will not sell enough. Or get enough publicity. It’s the problem as highlighted so well tonight by Sam Hailes in a discussion we were having about tech:

‘You’re a geek. I’m the average Joe, and if Apple didn’t make it, I don’t care’

I think that the adam will sell well, but the concept of a powerful tablet was not marketed by apple. The concept of a fun and simple tablet was marketed. The average joe doesn’t care if the adam has the tegra 2 chip in it, or if it’s twice the power, usability and productivity as the ipad. If apple promote it, it not only sells, it redefines the consumer’s market. Notion Ink, I think, are unable to redefine the market simply because it’s Apple’s day at the moment. I think they will fall just like others have (microsoft, we’re looking at you here) and their market share will fall in the future. Who knows, Notion Ink may pick up the market share that Apple will eventually lose, but I do not think it will be yet.

Of course, Google may be the ones to take over the tech industry in the future. They’ve released entirely new notebooks, and with the possibility to market their products like they have with Chrome, i think they could be the next ones to take over your tech (despite the limited success of Google TV).

Don’t get me wrong, I love apple (I use a mac hackintosh for all my work) and almost all they do. I think the ipad is really clever and cool. But android (the system the adam runs on) is not for anyone. It’s a geeks' OS.

Anyway, what do you guys think? This Indian Start-up company might take us all by storm, but what about everyone else?

My prediction?

The adam will be the geek’s tablet.

http://joshhailes.wordpress.com

[Levon]

First of all thank you for posting this, I do believe this will open a lot of debates.

Let me put in my 2 cents in here.
First of all, I don't believe that notion ink intentions are to beat apple, and if they are it certainly wouldn't happen in a matter of months. Don't forget, apple was founded in 1976, that's a whopping 34 years. I do believe that the Notion inks intentions are to release the best hardware tablet.

I do agree with you on one part, the average Joe doesn't care about all the things that the Adam can do and what not. Most of them are happy with the easy to use fun IPad. That's what Apple has spent millions, if not billions of dollars on in marketing their products.

Certainly we all can wish for great success with notion ink, it's not everyday we see such a young CEO accomplish so much, or a company that addresses to their fans directly.

Will Notion ink redefine the market for tablets? I don't know, do i think other companies will follow with the Adams capabilities? Certainly.

[saied]

levon said it. apple is a very trusted company to many while notion ink is a small company in india that no not alot of people know about it. if rohans intentions is to come up with a product to beat apple right from the start he will fail( he has said many many times that this is not his intention). how ever if their policy and devices are good they will slowly start attracting attention.
apple was the same way, they did not beat microsoft in one day or one year or 10 years. most of their products were expensive and many did not buy. how ever over time apples fame grow and now it has reached microsoft marketshare.

[JonnyBoy]

Thanks for posting this too, this is a question that I believe many new followers of NI and the media (bloggers and others) have been asking themselves.

I agree with Levon in that I don't believe that NI wants to take on Apple... or Samsung, or Motorola, o BB, or anyone else on the market. They seem to be very focused on their own vision, even blindly so, as to not take hints from their competitors on certain "standards" when it comes to sales (as seen and commented to death in last week's pre-orders). NI and Rohan seem to be determined to carry out their dream of a product and just get it to the hands of the consumers, letting the chips fall where they may and not trying to manipulate the market's opinion about Adam (this last point has backfired since with little to no PR they're being written off as vaporware).

Also, as mentioned, the average international consumer will probably not be interested in a new product from an unknown company not based out of the U.S. (horrible to say but I believe true). They want hype, marketing, World Cup / Super Bowl ads, and most importantly, they want what their friends have. Android as a tablet OS is brand spanking new, so much so that we haven't even seen a version built specifically for larger screens. There's so much left to fine tune and polish that most people will probably choose an product, albeit possibly inferior, from a known manufacturer. It's the lingering feeling of security that you get from previous purchases and recommendations that ultimately drive many purchasing decisions.

All in all, I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I might go as far as to say that this will be an advantage to NI! Without setting themselves up to such impossible expectations, they will be free to pursue the road less traveled in this and future devices. When will we see a three-paned UI solution from Apple? Probably never since focus groups might shut down that idea at first. Yet NI is thinking big and free from the get-go and presenting a new (r)evolutionary product for us to judge its worth.

In conclusion, I hope that NI never tries to be Apple, but rather, that they grow up to be themselves, Notion Ink.

[iamapirate]

Ah yes, but this is mostly in response to those that say that Notion Ink are going to beat Apple. There's a huge amount of positivity on here and the blog (which is great) that i think needs to be toned down a little with some perspective. This tablet isn't for everyone, even though it's the best and cheapest (almost) out there!

[JonnyBoy]

Ah yes, but this is mostly in response to those that say that Notion Ink are going to beat Apple. There's a huge amount of positivity on here and the blog (which is great) that i think needs to be toned down a little with some perspective. This tablet isn't for everyone, even though it's the best and cheapest (almost) out there!

You are right.

[rwniel]

The thing is Notion Ink do not need to 'beat' Apple - they just need to sell enough Adams to be profitable which will then help to fund the next version and to then continue innovating. If tablet PCs are going to sell in the kind of numbers that are being bandied about by so-called analysts then there should be room for a number of manufacturers. I think these manufacturers will 'chip away' at Apple in a similar way to what's happened with Android and with iOS and the smartphone. But Apple are bound to remain the dominant force because the iPad is in public consciousness especially in terms of what a tablet is expected to be.

In the case of Android, rather than try to decide what features to give a user they'll continue to be any number of different size screen models, features and price points. So the market could get a little crowded - that's my main fear with the Adam, that they'll get lost amongst companies that have a lot more money to spend on promotion, advertising and doing deals in getting their products into physical shops. So the Adam may become little more than a geeky niche product - I hope that is not the case though.

Robert

[Edheltaur]

Don’t get me wrong, I love apple (I use a mac hackintosh for all my work) and almost all they do. I think the ipad is really clever and cool. But android (the system the adam runs on) is not for anyone. It’s a geeks' OS.

. . .

The adam will be the geek’s tablet.

http://joshhailes.wordpress.com

I think this is how it started, as the geeks OS. With the advances in technology and the lack of an AT&T anchor, Android based phones are becoming more and more and more popular and not with geeks, but the 'mundanes' and business persons.

Case in point, I sat at an airport bar a few weeks back (due to a delay in my flight) for several hours. I am the kinda guy that likes to engage in conversation with random strangers. That night, I decided it would be about phones. I asked each and every person about their phone and we talked and debated about each phone in its turn. You know what? Only ONE person had an IPhone (he loved it, but hates AT&T), and ONE person had a Blackberry (other than me (I have both: Droid and Blackberry)) of the 20+ (I really don't remember how many total people) and EVERYONE else had an Android based phone (many were the Droids themselves) (and seriously, no one had just a regular old phone.) This was especially surprising as many of the people I spoke to were business travelers, I would have expected more Blackberries. I certainly expected to encounter more that one IPhone.

The more these devices continue to come out, the more people will be comfortable with Android as an OS. The more comfortable they are with Android, the more likely they will search for an Android based tablet over the IPad. I hope the adam is where their journey ends.

[valkor]

This tablet isn't for everyone, even though it's the best and cheapest (almost) out there!

I'm not sure about that. It all depends how you present/sell Adam or iPad or any other device.

Another thing I would add is that NI not just putting together the best technology available (Tegra, PQ, can't think of what esle). Rohan mentioned somewhere that they either already have or applied for a whole bunch of patents. I think this is great. They bring new things to people.

[iamapirate]

They bring new things to people.

The people don't want new things. new things scare people, unless they can trust the company bringing them new things. Think about it, an 8 year old kid wouldn't try some sweets a stranger had recommended to them, but he'd eat almost anything if it was his mate telling him to.

Though to me, Apple are friends, Notion Ink are family.